HELP! Recovering file from saved winxp.hdd after computer crash

[Bob Craddock]

My iMac crashed a few days ago (hard drive went bad on me), and thankfully the Apple Genius was able to recover most of my files, as I'm an idiot and hadn't backed up my computer for awhile ... and he saved the winxp.hdd hard drive but I'm not sure what to do with this when I get my computer up and running. There's only one thing I need from it - my MS Money file in there (and I DO NEED IT!). When I reinstall Parallels and create a virtual machine, can I simply replace that VM with this existing winxp.hdd and I'll be able to open it and retrieve my MS Money data?
Please help!
Thanks,
Bob

 

[desgael]

If there would be no problem reinstalling Parallels (if you have a new hard drive, you will need a Parallels activation key. This won't be a problem if you have registered on our site as well) then there is no problem getting winxp.hdd back to work.
I would suggest doing the following (I would assume you have Parallels 3.0):

1. Back up this winxp.hdd (create a copy somewhere else)
2. Create a new virtual machine in a Custom Installation Mode.
3. When asked, choose the option "Use existing hard disk image" and point to your winxp.hdd
That's it and it should work fine.

Another way (if somehow the above would not work) is to create a new virtual machine, install Windows in it and then add a second had disk (winxp.hdd). Will be visible as a second drive.

Also you can use Parallels Explorer to browse the content of winxp.hdd.